Batting practice devices are well known in the art. Examples of ball throwing devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,709,685; 4,760,835; 4,712,534 and 4,774,928. Other ball delivery means are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,677,544; 4,538,810; 3,531,115 and 2,955,823.
While the varieties of ball throwing and ball delivery devices are well suited for their particular uses, until the present invention there has been no mechanical teathered ball rotational device for use in swinging a ball in a predetermined circle at a predetermined speed in a controlled manner to allow for frequent, repeated presentation of a ball to a batter in a selected path and speed. It is for this reason that the present batting practice machine was invented.